Jurors in Deadlocked CHP Trial Cite Coroner’s Lapse

Failure by the San Diego County coroner’s office to establish an approximate time of death in the 1986 murder of a college student here contributed to to a Superior Court jury’s inability to convict former California Highway Patrol officer Craig Peyer, the suspect in the case, several jurors said Friday.

A judge on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case after the jury became deadlocked.

Several jurors cited as confusing the testimony of then-San Diego County pathologist Lee Bockhacker, who performed the autopsy on the body of the victim, Cara Knott, and who was an expert witness for the prosecution.

Knott’s body was found in a dry creek bed. It apparently had been tossed from a bridge near a freeway off-ramp.

Preliminary Testimony

At Peyer’s preliminary hearing, Bockhacker had testified that a liver temperature reading was not taken on the morning Knott’s body was discovered. Liver temperature readings are a means of determining the approximate time of death because it retains heat longer than any other body organ, losing between 1 and 1 1/2 degrees of body heat per hour, according to experts.

Defense attorney Robert Grimes made an issue of the missing liver temperature and argued that if one had been taken at the scene it would have cleared Peyer.

Prosecutors were unable to prove that Peyer ever had any contact with Knott and instead built a case of circumstantial evidence around him, much of it based on scientific blood and fiber evidence.

At Peyer’s murder trial last month, Bockhacker created a controversy by suddenly testifying that a liver temperature of Knott’s body had in fact been taken--and that the temperature was 64 degrees, using that to estimate Knott’s time of death.

‘Left Much to Be Desired’

“His (Bockhacker) testimony left much to be desired,” said juror Carole E. Riggs, who voted to acquit Peyer.

Victor Dingman, who also voted for acquittal, said that Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Van Orshoven apologized to the jury for Bockhacker’s performance after the trial.

Bockhacker’s “absolute inability to give any kind of concept as to time of death . . . hindered us greatly,” Dingman said.

Other jurors, who voted to convict Peyer and who did not want to be identified, agreed with Dingman and Riggs’ comments.

Bockhacker and Van Orshoven could not be reached for comment.